I was thinking about going back to a story I tried writing a while ago. Rather than a zombie apocalypse, it's only one county or one part of the world that gets overrun with a class three outbreak. The rest of the world quarantines said country and moves on, leaving the residents of that place to fend for themselves. I know, zombies are pretty much a trope in themselves at this point but hey, I write for fun and to express myself so I don't really give a damn. The quarantined country/part of the world is Northern Ireland. Where I live. To put a long story short, compared to the rest of the UK (or the rest of Ireland, depending on what your views are) it's living in the dark ages or at least the politicians and the people who vote for them are. Recently they wanted to pass a bill that would allow you to refuse services to someone if it was against your religion, most notably Christians refusing services to gay people. Anyway, this has only come to my attention story-wise as there are two characters in a gay relationship. My question is, even in a country that's still living in the dark ages, would homophobia still be a thing or would people care too much about surviving?
In nature there often seems to be a tendency to love the one your with. Part of me thinks that in the absence of societal, religious and legal constructs this would probably be the accepted default position in a post-apocalyptic world. Then again maybe everyone would turn to some crazy, homophobic cult and start jabbing the finger of blame around.
I think in those situations you could go two ways. You'd have people who wouldn't care anymore and would just try and forge their way in the new world. On the flip side, I think you'd have others who would cling to their beliefs even more fiercely to try and preserve some sense of society. They could end up trying to appease God and go even more Medieval than they would normally be. Could be an intense clash.
In the US, there are a group of crazies that come out whenever there is a hurricane, especially a particularly strong and devastating one, and claim that hurricanes are sent by God because the US allows gay marriage or has too many gay people. So, I can certainly see that in a zombie apocalypse, these same nut-jobs would claim that the zombie disease/cause was because of gay people. If you think this is possible in Northern Ireland, then go for it.
Sounds like a good way to introduce a group of rival survivors, or at least one villain. A mad cult who have gone completely Old Testament (i.e you're stoned for mixing fabrics). They believed that by straying away from old teachings and "not being serious enough" is what brought the undead hordes. I had an idea for a zombie story for a while (I'm talking about several years) in which a mad cult threw "sinners" into a pit full of the undead to test them. If they emerged, covered in bites but did not turn then they were deemed worthy. If not then they were eaten alive or became one of the undead, obviously. Perhaps I could finally use that idea.
I think there would also be room for prejudice of convenience. In a survival situation like that a person might loathe me and my hubby for being gay, but if we have food or shelter to offer something tells me that the loathing will take a back seat.
If anything, I would think it would probably get worse. In these types of situations I would expect the place to become even more cliquish, with people grouping to together and regarding outsiders with suspicion. Humans overall tend to have a strong "us vs them" mentality. Also, when has mass devastation made people less religious?
No. They would be uptight and wary, concerned that they're faces did not betray the feelings within. They would be curt and standoffish, angry that two gay guys gave them shelter and food, chipping at the mythology they believe about us constructed of unreason and illogic.
As long as it all happens in a tiny area (preferably a two-man tent) that makes the whole scene appropriately comical.
There is also the possibility of people becoming homophobic for survival purposes, they could push for straight couples to increase the birth rate to stop their race from declining and to begin/try to outnumber the (un)dead. Even in a mad max setting (never watched it, thinking fallout-like?) they'd probably still want to keep the human race going and would not support any union/idea/concept that would not see childbirth. They'd most likely even fight contraceptive use.
It all comes down to who survives honestly. Humans are pack animals, by nature, and live amongst the same people all their lives. An apocalypse would force us to find a group a stick with it. A highly religious gathering would most likely remain homophobic, as there would be even less incentive than ever to let go of religious dogma. Racists would most likely adopt an "all white" mentality and gather. A diverse group is more likely to be accepting and more focused on the goal than the individuals. So, depending on who survives, a homosexual may be in more danger than ever if they're discovered. Down the run, let's say a few generations, of non-stop surviving, odds are homosexuality would be almost ignored since people would be too busy surviving or they'd have learnt that F'ing up one guy would piss of the other group far too much to bother.
Like other people have said it depends on the society that existed at the time of the apocalypse and the struggling powers that managed to, stay in power. So in the future if crazy-homophobes/racists exist then they will exist after the apocalypse, unless they are so small in number that the chances of running into one after the apocalypse is almost 0. Like if 1 in 10,000 was a homophobe and 98% of humanity the world was destroyed then the chances of one of them being homophobe is still .01% but to give you some perspective. In the future let us say 10 billion people for example... You are left with 20,000 homophobes out of 200,000,000 People, where as before the apocalypse with the same figure of 1 in 10,000 you get 1 million homophobes. I guess you need to make it more like 99.8% to get rid of your homophobia problem.(only 2,000 homophobes then) although at that stage you lose the ability to continue the knowledge for w/e society you had prior. Basically there are more than 10,00 jobs even now, and in the future, even more jobs would exist and spreading everyone out to recreate the society they had, even some semblance of it would be nigh high impossible. If the apocalypse happened tomorrow, I guarantee homophobia will still be a thing.
I wrote a short post-apocalyptic story where homosexuals and disabled people were shunned from society completely - I guess it just seemed to me that in a society where survival and carnal human instincts were priority, minorities become even more marginalized and excluded as others band together. I'm sure it could work the other way though; where homosexuality isn't even an issue of contention as everyone just falls in love with whoever they are with and sex is as good a time as any when each day could be your last Depends on the context of your story!
you dont understand the strength of religious feeling that exists in northern Ireland. Portadown is a good example Some_Bloke, i think that religious feeling, homophobia, etc. would still be strong in such an environment, the couple would be ostracized from any group that found out.
I think the whole Catholic/Protestant thing wouldn't be a thing in a post-apocalyptic world. Religious tensions never last when humanity is trying to survive day-by-day
the catholic/protestant conflict wouldn't but its only a side effect of the deeply ingrained faith that people base their lives on, they wouldnt lose their faith, or their religious views, they just wouldnt go looking for a fight any more
I have to say that I disagree. When you have nothing but your faith, sometimes you hang on to what you have. The Jewish faith was probably at its strongest during the holocaust.
I couldn't possibly disagree more, especially considering the fact that in the eyes of large portions of America (sorry to pick on America, but the place just strikes me as one giant cult) every dip in the economy is "god sending his wrath for letting fags marry." People often seek religion in their darkest times, so I doubt a collapse of society would make people less religious. I'm pretty much certain that a zombie outbreak would be spun into a religious narrative by the surviving faithful (the zombies where sent by god to punish us for our lapse in faith? They were sent as a sign of the end times? They were sent by Satan to ... do something?). And sorry to progress from critical of religion to full blown internet atheist, but I reckon the complex system of government enforced human rights is probably the only thing standing against full blown persecution of blasphemers and heretics.
more likely the zombies are the work of the other group and come from the devil. as for government enforced human rights, most christian groups welcome 'heretics' atheists, and non-believers in general, because we must have them in order to convert them, we wouldn't persecute them (most of us anyway)
I think it would still be a thing, depending on who survives. If every Loyalist/Orangeman was eaten alive by zombies, maybe it wouldn't be a thing considering how in modern-day they're the ones committing hate crimes and causing other trouble. There hasn't been a lot of Republican-related violence for the past few years. Then again, the dissident Republicans could see the apocalypse as a chance to commit more violence. Homophobia would still be a thing though. I don't want to focus on the Protestant-Catholic rivalry though.
For two reasons, really. One is that pretty much every story from here focuses on it in one way or another and I want to do something different. The second reason is that it would annoy me to write about it. Even though, it still happens today it just feels really outdated (you'll find that a lot of things here are really outdated), like more outdated than the racism and homophobia.
i havent lived in northern ireland since i was little but i still hear about the "troubles" from my English friends, it certainly feels outdated to me. racism, homophobia etc in northern ireland would be amplified by such disaster, not dampened. people may very well 'love the ones their with' but 70% of men today have regular homophobic experiences and desires but dont identify as gay or bi. much the same would happen i would think
